Program Reviews

I found out about See Turtles in 2014 but was not able to schedule a trip until August 2017. I loved my time at Padre Ramos Estuary learning about the ecology and nesting behavior of the Hawksbill Sea Turtles and the wonderful work that local NGO's and the community are doing to save these beautiful animals. Every day we had the opportunity to do something interesting and worthwhile like patrolling beaches for nesting turtles, planting mangrove saplings, removing trash from nesting areas and meeting and working with local school kids. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm so grateful for the experience! Although volunteers work hard there is plenty of time to relax and the food was good. While I was there I met people from Australia, South Africa, Spain and France, all working to help conserve sea turtles. It was marvelous!

This was a very wonderful experience organized by Brad and the SEE Turtle group. The trip offers a lovely balance between seeing the city life of Havana and exploring nature at Maria La Gorda beaches. In Havana, we stayed in local homes with friendly and kind hosts. During our stay we experienced neighborhood restaurants, city walking/bus tours, a private concert with Cuban jazz musicians, and a conversation with a city architect discussing Havana's past development and current state.

Additionally, Maria la Gorda provided an opportunity to relax on the beaches, snorkel, scuba dive and, of course, observe the sea turtles in the evening. The tour group consists of a bi-lingual tour guide and at least two marine biologists. In the late evening, the group sets out for the beaches. There we were able to watch adult turtles make their way to nests to lay eggs and baby turtles hatch from eggs and make the long trek into the water. During this process, the marine biologists are tracking the turtles and documenting the information for their research. At the same time, they are explaining the process to the group, answering any questions that may arise and allowing for a truly hands on experience.

All in all this was a magical trip to be part of!

The trip was amazing, a lot of planned activities which allowed us to really get a good feel for the country and culture. Good food, good music. We enjoyed walking around Havana, the flee market and the Cannon shoot reenactment. We snorkeled at the beach resort, and saw so many jellyfish, an experience I won't soon forget. The presentations were informative, as was the hands on volunteer work.

I loved this trip. Our guide, Jesus, worked tirelessly to ensure satisfaction throughout our adventures. The highlight was patrolling the turtle nesting beaches, where we saw numerous false crawls and successful nesting green turtles. We were accompanied by a biologist from the University of Havana and a National Park Ranger who specialize in sea turtles. We were also lucky to see a couple of nest boils (August 2017 trip) and help some of the hatchlings negotiate the rocky terrain on their way to the ocean. It was pretty awesome, a life-long dream. The beaches and park were idyllic, and we were treated to bird watching with a park ranger guiding us one afternoon in addition to snorkeling. At the end of the trip, we spent a couple of days in Havana. Havana was a treat, and our guide's tour of the city was top notch. We had a little time to explore the city and take in some sights. I even caught a baseball game! I loved this trip and would go back again.

My spouse and I took this trip sponsored by See Turtles in July 2016 and thoroughly enjoyed visiting Cuba. Between meeting and interacting with the Cuban people, getting educated on the efforts that Cuba is taking to preserve the sea turtle population and enjoying the food, natural resources and beauty that Cuba is preserving for posterity it was a vacation and education all rolled into a most enjoyable week. Besides seeing Green sea turtles nesting we visited a village for an evening of meeting with the people, dancing, and eating. We did horseback riding on a tobacco farm and snorkeled and bird watched in a National Park, and of course toured Havana. Seeing the old cars from the fifties and sixties was a bonus. Never a dull moment. The people are wonderful.

Brad and the staff at SEE Turtles do a splendid job of coordinating everything to make your trip smooth and full of adventure without the bad experiences getting in the way. There were some down times beyond their control as there are with any international trip. Still the good outweighed the not so memorable by a long ways. Each day was relaxing but action packed at the same time. That seems contradictory but we never really felt like we were pushed into anything we didn’t want to do. Plus we opted out of some activities. It is your choice for most of the optional activities.
Our local guides and naturalists were fountains of information and knowledge that they freely shared with us.
A great trip that we still have fond memories of taking.

I am a sea turtle fan and the opportunity to see them nesting IN CUBA was an opportunity too good to miss. The trip was well organized. Nice hotels. New coach bus. Excellent bi-lingual guide. I enjoyed the three presentations by marine biologists. The time was too short in Havanna, and I really liked the Vinales Valley. As a birder, they indulged my interest with some bird hikes and identification. We were able to snorkel from shore and a boat. The finale was seeing green turtles nesting on the beach.

This was one of my all time favourite trips. Started by visiting Tikal in Guatemala and then cane tubing which was loads of fun. We then headed to St George’s caye and it was stunning. We stayed in a converted wooden house which was very comfortable and had everything you needed. There were many storms in the evening and watching he thunderstorms in the dark was very therapeutic. The snorkelling and Work that the staff do has a great impact on the research of marine life and was so interesting. The snorkelling and dolphin/ manatee watching parts were amazing and so many different marine creatures were seen. If you love the ocean this trip is a must. The staff were so nice, the island was peaceful and steeped in history and my fellow travellers were real friends! Belize is a must see destination on those bucket lists!!!

I undertook this trip a few years ago and wow what a trip. It was one of the most beautiful untouched places I have ever been. Staying in a volunteer house with basic amenities meant we could get close to the sea turtles and see them in their natural habitat and help with the methods that were being deployed to monitoring them. The highlight of the trip was releasing several groups of hatchlings both in the day and by moonlight. I also met an incredible group of people who made this a fun and exciting trip. Many of whom I am still friends with several years later. Nicaragua is a special country with lovely people and the most beautiful landscapes. If you love nature and adventure then give this trip a go!!

I went on the SEE Turtles adventure to Belize in July 2017. It was a fantastic experience, with ALOT of contact with nature, animals and conducting actual conversation work. Everyday we were out on the boat, following dolphins, snorkeling with sea turtles, coral reefs, sting ray and many other marine animals. The staff were highly knowledgeable, and there were no end to the number of activities to do. If you are the type of person that can't sit still on vacation and enjoys exercise and nature experiences I can highly recommend this! Beyond this, it really feels like you are contributing to the protect of species and doing something 'productive' with your vacation while not losing the relaxation and fun.